Ethfinex offers low trading fees and strong liquidity for active traders, especially those focused on Ethereum. But with no credit card deposits, high withdrawal fees, and no mobile app, it's not for beginners. Here's what you need to know in 2025.
Ethfinex Review: What Happened to This Crypto Exchange and What Replaced It
When you hear Ethfinex, a now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange that combined centralized trading with decentralized order matching. Also known as Ethfinex Exchange, it was one of the first platforms to let users trade crypto without giving up control of their funds—before most people even knew what a DEX was. Ethfinex launched in 2017 as a hybrid between a traditional exchange and a decentralized protocol. It used the Taker Protocol, a blockchain-based system that allowed peer-to-peer trading without custodial risk to match orders, while still offering a familiar UI like Binance or Coinbase. That made it popular among traders who wanted the safety of non-custodial trades but didn’t want to wrestle with MetaMask and gas fees every time they swapped tokens.
But Ethfinex never solved its biggest problem: low liquidity. While it promised decentralization, users kept leaving because trades often failed or took minutes to confirm. Meanwhile, real decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and SushiSwap started offering faster, cheaper swaps directly from wallets. By 2019, Ethfinex’s volume dropped off a cliff. The team quietly shut down trading, and the site became a redirect to a now-defunct parent company’s page. No official announcement came. No refunds. No warning. Just silence.
Today, Ethfinex is a ghost in crypto history—a lesson in what happens when innovation outpaces usability. If you’re looking for what Ethfinex tried to do, you’ll find it done better now. BarterDEX, the original atomic swap platform that let users trade across blockchains without intermediaries evolved into AtomicDEX, which works today without relying on a central server. Platforms like Exchangeist, a secure, low-fee exchange focused on transparency and cold storage, give you the ease of a centralized exchange with better security. Even NovaEx, a newer exchange offering zero-slippage trades backed by insurance has taken over the niche Ethfinex once claimed: reliable, non-custodial trading for serious users.
You won’t find Ethfinex active anymore. But if you’re wondering what kind of exchange you should use today—something safe, fast, and truly decentralized—you’ll find plenty of real options below. We’ve reviewed the platforms that actually deliver on what Ethfinex promised, and we’ll show you which ones still work in 2025—and which ones to avoid.